My Hero Romance: Chapter Twenty-Four
{| Chapter Twenty-Four "It is with great heartbreak to alert the world of a disaster beyond our imagination." The newscaster spoke quietly. "N.H. Academy, stationed at the heart of America, has fallen. It was attacked two nights ago when a group of villains stormed the school and killed a good portion of the main campus' teachers. A total of eight hundred people were killed. Three hundred and fifty teachers were killed, the rest being students and other faculty. The school has been shut down and so has it's other campuses across the nation. They ask us, as allies, to send reinforcements. Word has gotten out that there might more attacks on the way. More to come at five." The world fell apart when that was all she could see. On every billboard, on every phone, on everything. There were people missing and people dead. This information was too much for her to handle, but at the same time, she knew what she had to do. She busted through the doors of the conference room, eyes darting towards her. Toshinori was worried, she could tell, but she didn't need his worry right now. She needed Nezu's approval and nothing less. "I request that you send for Akihisa Sato. I volunteer us to fight for N.H. Academy while they recover from the tremendous loss." She looked down, clenching both her jaw and her fists. "After completing the necessary task, I would like to request temporary leave to prepare a funeral for my mother." "Katsuko, go home," All Might murmured. "You're not ready to go out on the field and fight. Go home." "Don't tell me to go home, All Might. My mother is most indefinitely dead. I can't afford to just sit by and watch as everything else falls apart. I'm going to help them and if you're not on my side then so be it." She snapped, narrowing her eyes at the one person she didn't want to be upset with. "Then I'll come with you!" He chirped, almost as if telling her that she could trust him with this. "You might need me as back up if Akihisa is injured!" Katsuko was surprised and so she looked over at Nezu, as if asking him for permission to steal their beloved hero for the time being. She knew well enough that she needed Toshinori as emotional support because without him, she'd have to confide in her dad who was not any help when suffering emotional distress as he was always in distress. "I see..." He hummed, tapping his chin with his paw. "I can't say no to him being backup...Well, if you insist. Just be sure to take care of yourself and take as much time off as you need. All Might, I am entrusting her safety in your hands." All Might nodded and quickly rushed Katsuko out of the room, deflating down to his true self. He pulled her behind him, bringing him to the lounge where he just pulled her into a hug. He pulled her tight against his chest and just held her there. Katsuko felt rigid, as if she just couldn't move at all. After a moment or two of standing still, she slowly wrapped her arms around his thin body and buried her face in his shirt. She sniffled, not willing to let that dam break. "Hey, hey, you can trust me, you know that. If you have to cry, just do it. I'll protect you. I promised I would, didn't I?" He rubbed her back, tightening his hold around her in an attempt to show her how safe she is. "Do you want to take a moment or go get your father?" She appreciated how quiet and soothing he was being. "Can we...Can we stay here for a bit? I think I'm gonna cry." She sniffled, biting back more of her tears before she just let it free. Toshinori was caught off guard by how quick she had begun sobbing, but he just let her let it all out. He rubbed her back before coaxing her to the couch where he promptly and very awkwardly set her in his lap to just cry it out. He continued to rub her back, but there was only so little he could do. For an hour or so, Katsuko couldn't find it in her to get up and continue moving-or doing anything that required more energy than necessary. She had long since stopped crying and just sat in his lap, empty of all emotion. "Are you ready to go?" His voice was soft and quiet, something she knew Toshinori found hard to do. He was loud and motivational, or how loud as he wanted to be in his true form. She played with one of his bangs. "Am I...Am I a bad person?" "No, I don't know where'd you get that idea." He shook his head, letting her do what she had to do to calm down. "I think you're an amazing person. I think you're amazing with how much you love Beanie and her kittens despite her hating you. I think you're amazing because you write things down when something interests you. You believe in writing letters over emails or texts! Having the patience and courage to write a letter to someone in this day and age is pretty damn amazing! You're handwriting is the best I've ever seen!" She bit back a small smile. "Do you mean that..?" "Of course I mean it, Katsuko!" He huffed, annoyed that she hadn't believed him, but he didn't care for that much. "I can list off a lot of things I love about you. One of the things being how much of a romantic you are. I love how you thrive to help as many people as you can even if that means putting your life on the line. I love how adorable you get when you're engrossed in a movie, how you bite your lip, clench your fists, everything. I love how frustrated you get when you can't get your thoughts down on paper. But what I love the most about you is that you proved me wrong, you showed me that I'm not indestructible. You even managed to fall in love with me, not All Might. Me. You'd have to truly be an amazing to fall in love with me." She snorted, wiping her face. She lightly punched his chest. "Don't say that! You're a great guy, Toshinori." She smiled at him, biting her lip. "Do you want to know why I love you? Because you put others before yourself. You put on a smile even when you're scared. I can't do that. I can't smile when I'm scared or sad, I can only try and fight. Even as Toshinori though, you're so sweet. You try and continue to help me even if I'm falling apart." He smiled lightly at that. "You aren't falling apart, Katsuko. I think you're...uh..you're really beautiful..." Her eyes widened at that and she smiled through her teary eyed face. "I'm not that beaut-" Katsuko was cut off when she felt a warm pair of lips on her own. Her heart thumped in her chest and her body told her to kiss him back, but she just wasn't quick enough. To her, his lips were soft and lightly chapped. "You are beautiful." His face was no doubt as red as hers, but he tried to shove that asides. "We should get going, huh?" "U..Uh...yeah, uh, sure." Katsuko slid off of his lap before wandering to the door with him following. She would have been fine if she had kissed him, she was fine when it came to that kind of stuff. She was indestructible when she was the one flirting, but Toshinori reacted. He responded, and with a kiss no less! Her lips tingled and for a good reason. Katsuko wasn't sure what to do with herself in that moment, finding herself unable to react properly. "This is probably a bad time, but you fit what I need in my life, so will you be my boyfriend?" "You can't just spring that on someone!"